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Post by inger on Oct 31, 2018 22:15:38 GMT -5
How sad. And to think, he was on my mind tonight when I was doing my list of players that have comeback late in their careers after a poor season. At the last moment, I forgot to add him to that list so, here it is... Willie McCovey / .204 with 7 HR at age 38. At 39 McCovey had one last hurrah with the stick, hitting .280 with 28 HR. It was his highest average in six seasons during which he had only hit .248 combined and the most HR he had hit since he clubbed 29 four seasons before. I loved Willie McCovey...For some reason there were a lot of the Giants players that I admired in the sixties and seventies. OF course there were Mays and McCovey...and Marichal...and Jim Ray Hart also hit a heart string for me...Orlando Cepeda and the tobacco-jawed Harvey Kuenn...Gaylord Perry...and the Alou brothers...But I didn't like the team that much... |
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Post by greatfatness on Nov 1, 2018 4:26:30 GMT -5
Jeter's going to spend some money. Who knows with these guys but based on the reports it seems like sensible investment for a team completely rebuilding. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2018 5:16:21 GMT -5
Also, Willie scalded a Ralph Terry pitch in the ninth inning of the 1962 WS that luckily found leather thanks to Bobby Richardson shading him perfectly and preserving the Yankees 1-0 win in game seven.
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Post by inger on Nov 1, 2018 9:54:27 GMT -5
Also, Willie scalded a Ralph Terry pitch in the ninth inning of the 1962 WS that luckily found leather thanks to Bobby Richardson shading him perfectly and preserving the Yankees 1-0 win in game seven. One of the most legendary of World Series outs in history. Before the day of exit velocities, but the it was reported back then made you feel like it was hit hard enough to make the reporters fall out of their seats...If only we could know... |
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Post by pippsheadache on Nov 1, 2018 14:12:51 GMT -5
Also, Willie scalded a Ralph Terry pitch in the ninth inning of the 1962 WS that luckily found leather thanks to Bobby Richardson shading him perfectly and preserving the Yankees 1-0 win in game seven. One of my most vivid World Series memories ever. Matty Alou led off the ninth with a bunt single. Then two outs. Then Mays hit one into the right field corner for a double, but Roger Maris got to the ball so quickly and fired a strike to the cutoff man that the Giants held Alou at third. Here's where things happened that could never possibly happen today. A left-handed slugger McCovey against a tired, laboring right-handed starter Ralph Terry. I can only imagine how many pitches he must have thrown by this point. Two years before, Terry had allowed Bill Mazeroski's seventh-game-winning HR that made Pittsburgh the champions. He actually could have been tagged with two bottom of the ninth seventh game losses in just three years. A base open. Houk went to the mound and it was decided to pitch to McCovey. As you said, a shoulder-high scorcher to the perfectly-positioned Bobby Richardson. A few feet higher or in either direction and the Giants likely win that World Series. Willie McCovey is one of the very few players whose major league debut I recall very clearly. (Another is Billy Rohr, which I will explain in a moment for those who don't recognize that name.) The reason I remember it was because it was one of those glorious mid-summer afternoon games, and it was against the Phillies, the local team for me, so it was broadcast in my area. The Giants were still playing in Seals Stadium (pre-Candlestick.) McCovey had four hits, at least a few of them against Robin Roberts. He made an immediate impression, kind of like Aaron Judge does, looking so large and spread out at the plate. He had a big swing that at full extension looked like it would hit the pitcher in the nose. It seemed to me that McCovey was more popular with Giants fans than Willie Mays was. Mays had already established his legend in New York, but McCovey was a San Francisco original, starting out in only the Giants' second year there. He was one of those guys where it surprised you if he DIDN'T hit a home run. I saw him play many, many times, and he was always compelling to watch. One of those players who make baseball fun. I'm glad that at least a few of you here remember him. RIP, Big 44. As for Billy Rohr -- probably Inger and Chuck and Rizzuto and Desousa know who he is. He came within one strike of pitching a no-hitter against the Yankees in his major league debut on Opening Day (I think it was 1967.) Elston Howard managed a soft single before Rohr got the next guy. Now this part I had to look up -- he won his next start, also against the Yankees, by a score of 6-1. And that represented two-thirds of his entire career win total. He finished 3-3 with a 5.74 ERA. But he sure has some sweet memories to look back on. I'm glad that at least a few of you on here remember him as well. |
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Post by inger on Nov 1, 2018 15:10:03 GMT -5
Yep. I was thirteen. The no hitter would have devastated me. Thank you Ellie, for stopping that nonsense...
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Post by pippsheadache on Nov 1, 2018 20:57:04 GMT -5
Yep. I was thirteen. The no hitter would have devastated me. Thank you Ellie, for stopping that nonsense... Oh yeah. Ellie was nearing the end of the line by then. So was Billy Rohr for that matter, even though it was his first game. |
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Post by inger on Nov 1, 2018 21:21:05 GMT -5
That brings me to memory that I had almost completely lost. I spent a month in Groton, CO that year when my mother and I went to spend some time with my older sister while her husband was away serving a hitch on a submarine.
I got to see Ellie playing against us in a Red Sox uniform. I believe he was the first player that I ever watched play for another team after he was traded away from the Yankees.
That was also the year I really “came of age” as a baseball player. I never played the game until I was 9 1/2 years old. I had started working on switch hitting in secret the year before by tossing rocks up in the air and hitting them.
Late that summer, after I got back home I started swinging lefty in the occasional game and hit my first left-handed home run. The kid that had moved to town four years earlier and had never had a glove on his hand nor swung a bat was suddenly no longer the last one picked in games. He had become s lethal outfield defender with a throwing arm that commanded respect (or threw you out. Period.), and now he was reaching the fences from both sides of the plate.
I had a good secret that the other kids didn’t know about. I was looking to pull EVERY pitch. And so I did...almost every one anyway. That was my stopper when I got older. In a way I was a very greedy hitter, and fortunately most of the people I played against weren’t smart enough of good enough to take my strength away from me or I would have crapped out way before I did. (:
But even then, I refused to strike out, and would cut my swing down with two strikes. That was how I learned that I didn’t need to swing hard to hit HR. I swung a 34”; 34 oz. Mickey Mantle model Louisville Slugger and made mass and solid contact work for me. Heck, in those days I never weighed more than 160-165 pounds up until I threw my arm out at age 34.
I worked so hard at the game because of how late I got started and how bad I was in the beginning...
I miss those days sometimes...And other times I just accept that the ravages of age take their toll on all of us...
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Post by inger on Nov 1, 2018 21:22:56 GMT -5
Sorry for the nostalgia, guys. It’s good to remember...
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Post by inger on Nov 13, 2018 0:40:04 GMT -5
I didn’t see any mention of this on here, so I’ll broach the subject. Joe Mauer has announced his retirement from MLB. The three-time AL batting titular won all three of his title during his days playing behind the plate and was a stalwart at getting on base through this career.
His power and overall batting skills have diminished in recent seasons and Mauer cited recurrent symptoms of a concussion he suffered back in 2013 along with accompanying vision problems that would come and go, particularly in day games as a primary reason for the decision...
It’s easy to assume that Mauer will win election to the Hall of Fame since his stats as a catcher were off the charts before injuries pushed him off the position. Had he played another position, election to the Hall would have been unlikely. For a comparison of a player with similar stats who also finished in decline and young, see Don Mattingly...
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Post by chiyankee on Nov 13, 2018 9:34:41 GMT -5
I didn’t see any mention of this on here, so I’ll broach the subject. Joe Mauer has announced his retirement from MLB. The three-time AL batting titular won all three of his title during his days playing behind the plate and was a stalwart at getting on base through this career. His power and overall batting skills have diminished in recent seasons and Mauer cited recurrent symptoms of a concussion he suffered back in 2013 along with accompanying vision problems that would come and go, particularly in day games as a primary reason for the decision... It’s easy to assume that Mauer will win election to the Hall of Fame since his stats as a catcher were off the charts before injuries pushed him off the position. Had he played another position, election to the Hall would have been unlikely. For a comparison of a player with similar stats who also finished in decline and young, see Don Mattingly... Mauer does remind me of Mattingly, two great players robbed of a better career by injuries. Chase Utley also retired, on the same day as Mauer. I think he's a lock for the HOF. |
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Post by inger on Nov 13, 2018 10:46:45 GMT -5
I didn’t see any mention of this on here, so I’ll broach the subject. Joe Mauer has announced his retirement from MLB. The three-time AL batting titular won all three of his title during his days playing behind the plate and was a stalwart at getting on base through this career. His power and overall batting skills have diminished in recent seasons and Mauer cited recurrent symptoms of a concussion he suffered back in 2013 along with accompanying vision problems that would come and go, particularly in day games as a primary reason for the decision... It’s easy to assume that Mauer will win election to the Hall of Fame since his stats as a catcher were off the charts before injuries pushed him off the position. Had he played another position, election to the Hall would have been unlikely. For a comparison of a player with similar stats who also finished in decline and young, see Don Mattingly... Mauer does remind me of Mattingly, two great players robbed of a better career by injuries. Chase Utley also retired, on the same day as Mauer. I think he's a lock for the HOF. I think we can also say that Utley was robbed of a greater career by injuries. During his five year peak, he hit .301/.388/.535 with 146 HR; 507 RBI and he stole 77 bases while only getting caught once...including a season with 23 steals without being caught...Sadly, nothing about the other 14 seasons he was in MLB suggests HOF qualification. He has less than 2,000 hits. He missed too much time due to injuries, Chi. I wish I could agree with you, but I don't see him getting in... But thanks for pointing out his retirement. I hadn't seen it in the news anywhere...The standards set in the HOF have never felt "right" to me...These guys can play healthily for a long period and put up ho-hum annual numbers and reach milestones...Others can be like Utley, completely dominant for 5 years and get injured...unable to get on the field often enough, and also frequently having to shake off pain... |
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Post by inger on Nov 13, 2018 12:05:22 GMT -5
The Mariners have dealt C Mike Zunino for CF Mallex Smith of the Rays. Since Smith has a breakout year with the Rays, itvwould appear that Dee Gordon will be headed back to 2B, relegating Robinson Cano to DH, with back up play at 3B, 1B, and 2B probable.
Rumors have Cano interested in a return to the Yankees, but no rumors have surfaced that the Yankees are interested in a reunion.
The Mariners were going to be Robinson Cano’s team as he led them to multiple titles. Hmmm. That train seems to have run off the tracks in so many ways.
Just trying to surmise what might have been if Cano were still a Yankee. Would he have become the team’s first base solution after his return from his shameful suspension? Or would Gleyber Torres have been stalled at AAA a bit longer?
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Post by kaybli on Nov 13, 2018 12:19:13 GMT -5
Boy it really is slow season for baseball isn't it?  :
Why are baseball managers so short?
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Post by chiyankee on Nov 13, 2018 12:46:29 GMT -5
The Mariners have dealt C Mike Zunino for CF Mallex Smith of the Rays. Since Smith has a breakout year with the Rays, itvwould appear that Dee Gordon will be headed back to 2B, relegating Robinson Cano to DH, with back up play at 3B, 1B, and 2B probable. Rumors have Cano interested in a return to the Yankees, but no rumors have surfaced that the Yankees are interested in a reunion. The Mariners were going to be Robinson Cano’s team as he led them to multiple titles. Hmmm. That train seems to have run off the tracks in so many ways. Just trying to surmise what might have been if Cano were still a Yankee. Would he have become the team’s first base solution after his return from his shameful suspension? Or would Gleyber Torres have been stalled at AAA a bit longer? With 120 million over the next 5 years still due on his contract, I'd say there's very little interest in the Yankees bringing back Cano. |
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